Dear Superintendents and School Leaders,
I'm writing with updates on several COVID-19-related items that have arisen since my last message.
School Event Planning Resources
The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) has published several checklists for school events to augment those in the
Safe and SMART Events Playbook:
The materials offer best practices and recommendations for schools to produce – and communicate about – safe and smart live events such as graduations and promotions.
Updated Template Letter
Last week, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) expanded its recommendations for the COVID-19 vaccine booster shot to now include everyone age 5 and older. The San Diego County Office of Education (SDCOE) Communications team has updated its
template letter in English and Spanish to address the expansion of booster eligibility.
Blanket Extension on Expiration of At-Home Test Kits
CDPH has endorsed the emergency use of at-home COVID-19 tests beyond their Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-authorized expiration. This
blanket extension is valid until CDPH posts that the emergency extension has ended. The emergency extension applies to all FDA-authorized at-home COVID-19 tests, including:
- Abbott BinaxNOW COVID-19 Antigen Self-Test
- AccessBio CareStart COVID-19 Antigen Home Test
- ACON Flowflex COVID-19 Antigen Home Test
- iHealth COVID-19 Antigen Rapid Test
- On/Go COVID-19 Antigen Self-Test
At-Home COVID-19 Tests Kits Available from SDCOE
SDCOE has a supply of at-home test kits that we can make available to your district or charter school for use with students and/or employees.
You may request up to one test kit per student and employee. The kits may be distributed to students and employees, held in reserve and distributed in response to symptoms or exposures, and/or used with employees who are required to test weekly.
To place an order, please email
ppe@sdcoe.net. Provide the name of your school district or charter school, the number of students who are currently enrolled, and the name and contact information (email and phone) of the person who will be responsible for picking up your order.
- Orders will be reserved in the order they are received and discontinued when our supplies have been exhausted.
- Orders that are not picked up within five business days will be reallocated.
- If we do not exhaust this supply, we will contact the schools that have placed orders to see if they would like additional test kits.
CDPH/CDC Request Form for COVID-19 At-Home Tests
Local educational agencies (LEAs) can also apply for free at-home tests through a partnership between CDPH and CDC.
According to CDPH and CDC, the tests can be used at home by individuals or parents/guardians. However, if they are performed by LEA staff, they are subject to federal Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendment (CLIA) regulations and require special training. If you plan to use over-the-counter tests in this type of scenario, your organization needs to apply for use of CDPH’s CLIA waiver.
Requests for tests can be submitted weekly by noon on Fridays through June 17 using
this form.
The federal government selects which groups receive the tests. You should hear from CDPH within five to seven business days. Please also answer phone calls from unknown numbers within this period as both CDPH or the test distributors may call you with questions about your shipment or address. Test delivery typically takes another three to seven business days.
If you have questions regarding this program, please email
schoolOTC@cdph.ca.gov. To subscribe to CDPH’s e-mail list to receive additional information regarding over-the-counter COVID-19 tests for schools,
register here.
Thank you for all that you do. Please reach out if you have any questions.
Sincerely,
Paul
Dr. Paul Gothold
San Diego County Superintendent of Schools
phone: 858-295-6641
